Review: Birch Coffee Emma’s Espresso (Long Island City, New York)

The end of June saw me taking a very short trip (24 hours) to New York City for a concert (Stone Roses at Madison Square Garden). While there, I naturally had to pick up some coffee! I was limited to what I could find within walking distance of Midtown, but luckily for me, there were plenty of options. I snagged this bag of Birch Espresso at one of their shop locations.

As sometimes happens, when I went to the checkout, I had the following exchange with the barista.

Barista: Do you need your beans ground?
Me (slightly horrified): Oh, definitely not! Doesn’t that hurt to have to even offer??
Barista:

Espresso: It took me some time to get a handle on this espresso. The faster pours got me buttery and red wine flavors, but as I tightened up the grind, it revealed chocolaty flavors. It was particularly good as a ristretto shot.

With milk: I have stopped drinking milk and things like lattes altogether so I’ll be depending on Shutterbug’s opinion for this category. His comments: “Very good! It’s… milky.” I think that’s actually a compliment, in that the espresso + milk doesn’t taste weird to him. That definitely happens sometimes in this house…

AeroPress: This tasted much like the espresso when brewed as a concentrate. However, once I added a bit of water, it toned down the brightness and made for a rich, flavorful, multi-dimensional coffee that kept me sipping. I actually ended up using my last beans from this bag in this method and was sorry when they were gone; I would have enjoyed having this again!

Summary: A good multitasking espresso bean, whether you’re drinking it straight or with milk. Particularly tasty when pulled ristretto.

I don’t do such packaged coffee myself and it brave of you take a risk of the unknown. Personally, if I don’t find the exact brand of coffee I like every morning, I can’t function well.
Anyway, I also noticed you are sick of the cafe lattes available everywhere nowadays. Good to see someone thinks like me!